Conveyer



Nov. 27, 1928.

' G. NELSON CONVEYER Filed Dec. 2, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR Gus'r Nsmarv A TTOR NE Nov. 27, 1928.

3. NELSON CONVBYER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VE/VTOR Qusr NsLsa/v I ATTORNEK? Filed Dec- 2, L926 Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,693,208 PATENT OFFICE.

GUST NELSON, OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANK B. PENDLETON, OF VANCOUVER, CANADA.

CONVEYER.

Application filed December 2, 1926. Serial No. 152,272.

My invention relates to improvements in conveyers which are particularly adapted for conveying large logs such as are cut on the Pacific slope, from the point where they are logged and yarded, to a delivery station at a lower elevation. The objects of the invention being to provide a carriage, preferably moved by gravity along an inclined aerial track, to which a load is raised and carried; to provide for the automatic release of the load as the carriage reaches its destination, and to provide means for preventing the carriage from displacement from its track.

The invention consists essentially of a carriage endwise movable along an aerial track having means for raising, transporting and lowering a load, a carriage retaining device at one end of the track, and means at the other end of the track with which the carriage is adapted to form a contact, to release the load,

.means for returning the carriage to starting point and means for raising and locking a further load to the carriage, as will be more fully described in the following specification, in which Fig. 1 is a general view of t-heinvention.

. Fig. 2 is a fractionated viewof the carriage, the retaining block and the bumper block.

Fig. 3 is a plan view taken on the line 3 -33 of Figure 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Fig. 5 is'a plan view of the movable track guard. I Y Y Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the track saddle. 1

. Fig. 7 is a view showing a choker line sus- V pended from a hoisting block.

Fig. 8 is-a view showing the manner in which the choker is attached to the log and the manner of its release.

In the drawings like characters of refer ence indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral 2indicates an aerial track which extends between a spar tree 3 situated at a point where'the logs are assembled for transportation and a further, spar tree 4 situated at a suitable delivery point. The track is preferably set to such an inclination as to permit the carriage .to run when loaded from the point of assemblyto the delivery point by gravity, but it will be obvious that where insuificient grade is available means may be adopted to impart the necessary movement thereto. Intermediate support for the cable may be introduced by providing an arm 7 5 fulerumed intermediate its length as at 6 to a post 7 the outer end of the arm 5 being anchored back to the post by a flexible connection 8 having a tension spring 9. The outer end of the arm 5 supports a saddle generally indicated by the numerallO, see Figure 6, which. is splayed downwards towards its ends and is provided with a groove 11 to receive the track cable 2. The track is held in position within the groove 11 by a metal cover 12 which extends downwards on opposite sides of the saddle 10 and is secured thereto by a bolt 13 or other suitable fastening.

The numeral 14 indicates generally a carriage having a beam 15 connecting together a pair of hangers 16, see Figure 4,- each of these hangers is provided with a pivotally mounted frame 17 at its upper end in which a pair of track sheaves 18 are journalled.

The lower portion of each hanger forms a bell shaped block housing 19 having a rectangular aperture 20 at its upper extremity of a size equal to the cross sectional area of the hoisting block hook shank, which will be described hereinafter. Adjacent the upper end of the housing 19 a hinged flap 21 is fitted, the upper extremity of the flap forms one side wall to the aperture 20, and is adjustably spring tensioned as at 22 to hold the flap normally in closed position as shown in Figure 4. Ex-

tending, along the beam 15 is an endwise movable latch rod 23,,see Figures 2,- 3 and 4, havin g adjacent its ends a pair of slots which are adapted to register with the apertures 20 of the housing 19 when moved in a rearward direction. Upon the forward end of the carriage 14 isaspring tensioned trigger 25 connected to one end of the latch rod 23. On the rear end of the carriage 14 a trip catch 26 is mounted upon a pin 27 the free end of the catchis capable of a limited lateral and vertical movement and is held in relatively fixed position by a spring 28 upon the pin 27.

such as would occur when the load is suddenly released, from throwing the sheaves 18 d the track. By providing the curved ends to the guards 29, it is moved about its hinge 31 on striking the saddle 10 so as to prevent the guard from forming an obstructlon to the free passage of the carriage along the track 2 and its saddle 10. Suspended from the lower edge and one side of each of the block housings 19 is a pair'of chams 33 whlch are spaced apart at intervals of their lengths by flights 34, the purpose of which'will hereinafter ap- V pear. I

suitably anchored stop 35 is mounted, which 1s At thedelivery point of the track 2 a suspended from a pair of sheaves 36 for the purpose of preventing the block movement due to carriage impact from producing undue wear upon the track, at the rearward end of the block a spring tensioned bumper 37 is fitted, which is adapted to be engaged by the trigger 25 of the carriage '14, as the carriage comes to rest at the end of its downwarc I travel.

At the assembly point of the track 2 a retaining block 38 having track sheaves 39 1s mounted and is suitably anchored against tin-- due movement along the track. "A pocket 40 is formed in the retaining block which presents a bell mouth towards the carriage and is adapted to receive the trip catch 26 thereof. The pocket 40 is provided with a spring tension'ed arm 41 fulcrumed adjacent its forward v end as at 42, which is adapted to exert a resilient pressure upon the trip catch 26 outwards from the line' of the track to hold it in firm contact with a release dog generally indicated by the numeral 43. The release dog 43 is fulcrumed on a vertical pin 44. carried in the pocket 40 and is provided with a rearwardly extending projection 45 which isadapted to lie, when the trip catch 26 is in the pocket in contact with the outer extremityof said catch. The dog 43 is, provided with a spring tensioned lever 46 to which a line 47 leading to a suitable control position, is attached.

Theouter end of the trip catch 26 when in engaged position with the dog 43 is adapted to project laterally outward beyond the fulcrum pin 44, so that the pull exerted by the carriage '14 will not tend to release the trip catch from pointed-latch member 50 at its upper end which is'adapted to pass through the top openmg of the housing 19 of the carriage and to engage the top surface of the latch rod 23 adjacentone of its slots 24. The lower end of the block 48 is weighted as at 51 for the purpose of holdin the shank 49 in vertical position when the block is being raised either with or without load; a shackle 52 or other fitting is mounted at the lower end of the weight 51 as a means of fastening to a choker line 53 which line is adapted to be passed round the log to suspend it from the carriage. The blocks 48 are suspended from their housings by hoisting lines 54 which are connected at one end to the inside of the housings, the lines passing first through the sheave of the block thence over suitable sheaves mounted upon the carriage and back to a head block, not shown, on thespar tree 3 and from thence are wound onto a drum of a winding engine, or are connected together and attached to a single line which would lead to a drum. The choker line 53 is fitted with chokerhook see Figures 7 and 8 consisting of a running shackle 55 having a pivotallymounted lever 56 which is provided with a downwardly'and inturned hook 57 adjacent its fulcrum and upon the free end of the choker line is a fitting 58 having an eye 59 which is adapted to beengaged by the hook 57 to secure the log in 56'is adapted to extend transversely and to be inclined downwardly from the leg when in normal engaging position as shown in Figure'8.

aving thus described the several parts of my invention I will now briefly explain its operation.

Assuming the carriage to beheld at the assembly point and ready to load the lines 54 are slackened' oft from the winding drum to lower the hoisting blocks 48 down to the log to be transported, the choker lines 53 are then passed around the log and the eyed fittings 58 slipped over the hook member 5'7 of the levers 56 to secure them about the log. The drum is rotated to haul in the lines 54 to raise the load. Should the load be to one side of the track prior to lifting,- it will obviously follow that the carriage will assume an inclined position as the initial tightening of the hoisting lines is effected, but since the retaining block 38 is freely suspended fromthe track 2 it can asthe bight of the choker line 53. The lever sume a similar angle to that of the carriage without in any way affecting the carriage releasing means. .As the pull on the lines is continued the load is raised towards the carriage. and the'levers 56 on the chokerlines fwill successively pass the flights '34 of the chains 33 until the ultimate height of load is reached when the said levers will project between some of the flights in'a position to be obstructed thereby on the downward movement of the load; as'shown in Figure 8. The final upward movement of the load will cause the upstanding shanks 49 of the load block to press open the hinged flaps 21 against their spring tension 22 and to pass through the apertures 20 in the upper portion of the housings 19, which shanks will slide transversely into holding engagement with the latch rod 23, so that the strain on the lines 54; may be entirely released and the load locked in elevated position as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4. The winding drum is then released or rendered free to rotate as desired and a pull is exerted on the release line 47 to rock the dog 43 about its pin 44 and to release the trip catch 26 secured to the carriage. The carriage is then free to run by gravity, or to be otherwise moved towards the delivery point. As the carriage 14 approaches a saddle 10, the outer end of the arm 5 is depressed by the increase of weight on the adjacent portion of track so that the inclination of the track at such approach is reduced, with the result that the carriage passes over the saddle without undue impedence to speed of travel or vertical movement which might otherwise tend to cause the sheaves of the carriage to jump the track 2. If the downward inclination of the track is such as to cause the carriage to run at excessive speed, a braking efiect is imposed upon the winding drum sufiicient to reduce the speed to within convenient speed limits. As the carriage reaches the stop block the trigger 25 is overrun by the carriage 14, causing the latch rod 23 to move so that its slots 24 register with the apertures at the upper end of the housings 19, thus releasing the hoisting blocks from their locked position to the carriage and the load suddenly being transferred through the blocks 48 to the lines 54: which increases the speed of the winding drum permitting additional cable to be paid out to lower the blocks and their load.

As the load is pulling the blocks in a downward direction the outer ends of the choker line levers 56 are held against corresponding downward movement by the flights 34 of the chains 33, whereas the inner ends of the levers continue downward, releasing their hooks 57 from the eyed fittings 58 of the choker line 53 so that the log is automatically detached from the carriage and falls to the ground. As soon as the load is detached the loading blocks cease to fall, so that no further line is paid out. V

The carriage is hauled back to starting point by winding in the lines 54 upon the drum its initial movement permit-ting the return of the latch rod 23 to normal position with its slots 24 out of register with the apertures 20 of the housings 19, the initial winding causing the shanks 49 of the loading blocks to enter the housing 19 and their extremities to reach the apertures 20 thereof, but are prevented projecting therethrough by the pressure of the spring 22 which is of such tension as to hold the flap 21 closed and to cause the tension of the lines 54 to draw the carriage rearWa-rds along the track or until it has come to rest with its trip catch 26 engaged within the pocket of the retaining block 38. When this position is reached by the carriage and the carriage locked against movement, the lines-54 may be slackened and the load blocks lowered for the attachment of a further load or 1.0g.

What I claim as my invention is:

A conveyer comprising a traveling earriage including a beam, a pair of hangers secured to opposite ends of said beam, the lower portion of each hanger being formed to provide a block housing having an aperture at its upper extremity, an upper wall portion of each housing being hingedly mounted to form a flap having its upper edge disposed to constitute one margin of said opening, a sprin arranged to exert inward pressure on said ap, a longitudinally movable latch rod slidably mounted on said beam with one edge of the latch rod overhanging a. portion of the opening formed in each block housing, the said edge of the latch rod being provided with slots adapted at times to register with said openings, and a pair of load blocks provided each with a shank adapted to be passed upwardly through the opening of one of said housings between the latch rod and the hingedly mounted flap and provided with a projection adapted to hook over the latch rod to support the shank and block in elevated position, and means for shifting the latch rod to position the slots therein beneath the latch projections of said shanks and in mgistration with said openings to permit downward movement or withdrawal of the shanks from the housings.

Dated at Vancouver, B. C., this 12th day of November, 1926.

GUST NELSON. 

